Immediate medical care can save the lives of countless accident victims and military personnel. In the emergency medical services arena, there has long been an emphasis on the golden hour during which a patient must receive definitive medical attention. However, definitive medical attention is often limited, because of the lack of necessary equipment. While state of the art medical equipment can be found in medical facilities, such is not the case in emergency situations or military applications. This is particularly true in the area of ventilators.
Inspiration-only ventilators are known and widely used in hospital settings as they provide useful breathing circuits while minimizing the amount of oxygen utilized in treating the patient.
Current ventilators are generally designed for stationary, medical facilities. They are heavy, cumbersome and ill suited for portable applications. Most ventilators utilize medical grade air or highly flammable, compressed canisters of oxygen for its oxygen sources. These tanks air/oxygen are heavy, cumbersome, and unsuitable for transport. Prior-art ventilators also require large power sources, making them even less suitable for quick, on-site use. Lastly, most known ventilators require operation by trained personnel in treatment environments, where additional equipment and resources are easily available.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,563 to Schroeder et al disclose a computer controlled pneumatic ventilator system that includes a double venturi drive and a disposable breathing circuit. The double venturi drive provides quicker completion of the exhalation phase leading to an overall improved breathing circuit. The disposable breathing circuit allows the ventilator to be utilized by multiple patients without risk of contamination. This device utilizes canistered oxygen sources. This device also would be rendered inoperable under the conditions anticipated by the present invention.
Therefore, there is a need for portable ventilators that overcome the disadvantages of the existing stationary ventilators.
The following portable ventilators address some of the needs discussed above. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,152,135, 5,881,722 and 5,868,133 to DeVries et al. discloses a portable ventilator device that utilizes ambient air through a filter and a compressor system. The compressor operates continuously to provide air only during inspiration. The DeVries et al devices are utilized in hospital settings and are intended to provide a patient with mobility when using the ventilator. Since these devices are not directed to on-site emergency use, they provide closed loop control, sophisticated valve systems and circuitry that would render them inoperable under the types of emergency conditions anticipated by the present invention.
The references cited above recognize the need for portable ventilators that provide a consistent breathing circuit. As is the case with most portable ventilators, these devices provide breathing circuits including valve systems and an oxygen source. However, these devices lack the means by which they can be quickly facilitated in emergency situations where there are no stationary sources of power. Secondly, most of these devices depend on canister-style oxygen sources, which are cumbersome, and lessen the ability of the ventilators to be truly portable. Thirdly, the prior art ventilators do not provide breathing circuits that can be continuously used in the absence of stationary power sources. These and other drawbacks are overcome by the present invention as will be discussed, below.